Headnote Vignette for Book II, Chapter 15 ("Knitting") — illustration for "A Tale of Two Cities" by John McLenan in "Harper's Weekly" (6 August 1859)

Headnote Vignette: The Very Public Execution of the Assassin

John McLenan

Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book II, Chapter 15 ("Knitting")

7 cm high by 4.3 cm wide (3 inches by 1 ¾ inches)

Harper's Weekly (6 August 1859): 508; the text appeared previously in the UK on Saturday, 30 July in All the Year Round.

Passage Illustrated: A Grisly Public Execution and a Poisoned Country Well

All work is stopped, all assemble there, nobody leads the cows out, the cows are there with the rest. At midday, the roll of drums. Soldiers have marched into the prison in the night, and he is in the midst of many soldiers. He is bound as before, and in his mouth there is a gag — tied so, with a tight string, making him look almost as if he laughed." He suggested it, by creasing his face with his two thumbs, from the corners of his mouth to his ears. "On the top of the gallows is fixed the knife, blade upwards, with its point in the air. He is hanged there forty feet high — and is left hanging, poisoning the water."

They looked at one another, as he used his blue cap to wipe his face, on which the perspiration had started afresh while he recalled the spectacle.

"It is frightful, messieurs. How can the women and the children draw water! Who can gossip of an evening, under that shadow! Under it, have I said? When I left the village, Monday evening as the sun was going to bed, and looked back from the hill, the shadow struck across the church, across the mill, across the prison — seemed to strike across the earth, messieurs, to where the sky rests upon it!" [Book II, "The Golden Thread," Chapter XV, "Knitting," 508]

Commentary: The Poisoned Well

In this week's headnote vignette, McLenan underscores the exceedingly repressive nature of L'Ancien Réegime. High-handedly demonstrating its absolute powers, the justice system commits an injustice to the villagers, who are in no way associated with the assassin from St. Antonine who has stabbed the arrogant Marquis to death in his own bed, in the apparent security of his own chateau. The story is not objectively presented by the main narrator, but is retold (as the main illustration for this week's instalment makes clear) from the perspective of the Mender of Roads in Defarge's attic, which once served as the temporary residence of anther victim of the injustice of the Old Regime, Dr. Manette.

Other Illustrated Editions (1859-1910)

Related Material

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Allingham, Philip V. "Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 21 November 1859.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, 7 May through 3 December 1859.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution. Project Gutenberg e-text by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. Release Date: September 25, 2004 [EBook #98].

Sanders, Andrew. A Companion to "A Tale of Two Cities." The Dickens Companion Series, Vol. 4. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988.

Created 27 November 2007

Last modified 30 November 2025